The last 15 years has seen an explosion of frying turkeys in ones backyard. Fried turkeys cook quickly, yield an exceptionally crispy skin and remain juicy. Upon first frying a turkey, many say they will never cook a turkey any other way. The most common way to fry turkeys is outdoors, in a turkey frying pot. This pot is sold in various sizes and is taller than other commercial pots to facilitate the turkey's oblong shape. The most common size pots are 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 quart capacities. The oil is most commonly heated in the pot over a gas flame until the oil reaches a temperature of 350 degrees. Upon reaching this temperature the turkey is immersed in the hot oil, usually using a carrier of one kind or other so ones hands would not contact the hot oil. The turkey is then cooked for 3-4 minutes per pound, removed from the oil, drained and consumed.
The process of frying can be dangerous due to the presence of flames and a flammable liquid. As stated, the typical process involves an open flame gas burner, heating a pot which contains oil, to a certain temperature and introducing the prepared turkey into the hot oil for an amount of time. The correct method of deciding how much oil to place in the pot is to place the turkey in the pot, cover with water, remove the turkey, record the level of the water and discard the water. Oil should then be placed to the recorded water level and heated. When this method is not performed the results can be hazardous. Of particular hazard is placing too much oil in the pot, and, as the turkey is immersed in the oil the pot will overflow onto the burner causing a flash fire. This hazard has caused much concern about the safety of frying turkeys due to initial overfilling of the frying oil. It is understood that some manufacturers may remove their turkey frying kits from the market. The Turkey Frying Oil Gauge (TFOG) was developed to minimize this hazard when frying by indicating a specific level to fill the oil for a particular size pot based on the weight of the turkey and to eliminate the need for the turkey/water displacement marking method.
No known measuring device has been developed that can be placed in any common size turkey frying pots that will indicate the level of oil to be placed in the pot.
Some newer pots contain embossed weight ranges of turkeys, but no known devices fit multiple vessels and indicate turkey weights to the nearest pound increment.
It is therefore an object of the invention to indicate a level of oil to be placed in a given size turkey frying pot to the correct level required for a particular size turkey.
It is another object of the invention to safely fry turkeys.
It is another object of the invention to reduce the likelihood of overfilling a turkey frying pot causing an unexpected fire
It is another object of the invention to quickly fill a turkey oil frying pot without performing water displacement and marking the water level to indicate oil level.
It is another object of the invention to eliminate the guess work from placing frying oil in a turkey frying pot prior to frying a turkey.